A portable computer may include a graphics processing unit (e.g., a graphics processor). Graphics processors consume significant battery power. In some situations, a user may be using the portable computer for simple tasks that do not require a full voltage and frequency of a graphics processor. In this situation, the power and frequency used by the graphics processor may be reduced to save battery reserves. To reduce power consumption, the graphics processor may operate in one of several power-performance states (i.e., P-states). P-states may indicate a voltage and frequency in which the graphics processor will operate. For example, P-state zero (i.e., P0) may be a highest-performance state that indicates the graphics processor will operate at a maximum voltage and a maximum frequency.
The graphics processor may be associated with a plurality of P-states such as P0 through Pn, where n is an integer greater than 0. P-states, such as P1 through Pn, may be successively lower-performance states than P0 where each has a scaled down voltage and frequency. For example, P1 will be associated with a slower frequency and lower voltage than P0 and P2 will be associated with a slower frequency and lower voltage than P1.